Five-month-old twins have heart attacks and die after being left in car, officials say

Five-month-old twins died after they were found unresponsive in the backseat of their parents' car Thursday night, officials told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The twins had reportedly been left there for an extended period of time, but Chesterfield Police Maj. Frank Carpenter would not tell the Times-Dispatch exactly how long, citing an ongoing investigation, nor would he release a temperature recorded inside the car. The high for the day near Chesterfield was around 87 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Chesterfield Fire & EMS spokesperson Jason Elmore told the Times-Dispatch it was about 2:30 p.m. Thursday when rescuers were called to a home in Chesterfield, Va., where they found infant twins in cardiac arrest.

The two babies - one girl and one boy - were transported to the Chippenham Hospital, where both were pronounced dead within hours, according to WTVR.

An investigation has begun, but Carpenter told the Times-Dispatch he did not believe the children were left on purpose.

"It wasn't intentional," he told the paper. "We believe it was truly an accident."

Local media spoke with neighbors, who described the parents as hardworking and caring.

"It's tragic what happened and I don't even know how to help them with their pain," Donna Gusti, a neighbor who works with both parents at Waffle House, told WRIC. "It was certainly not an intentional, negligent act."

Neighbors told the station the parents had moved to the area from South Carolina less than a year ago, and were struggling to find a way to balance their work schedules.

"They go to work, they come home to their kids, they're not any trouble, they're awesome," one neighbor told WTVR.

A next-door neighbor of the parents told WRIC the twins' mother called to wake up the babies' father so he could come pick her up from work. “That's when he found the babies in the car," the neighbor told the station.

"It was a horrific mistake that can never be erased," Gusti, the coworker, told WRIC.

Police are still looking for more information on the case, and are encouraging people to call the Chesterfield County Police Department at 804-748-1251 or Crime Solvers at 804-748-0660 if they know anything about what happened, the Times-Dispatch reported.

This story was originally published May 11, 2018 at 3:53 PM with the headline "Five-month-old twins have heart attacks and die after being left in car, officials say."